The Rise

Chapter Seventeen

"Stop it." Nakida plopped down next to me on the couch and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "This isn't your fault."

Aaisha sat on the floor and leaned over the coffee table in front of her food. With one hand, she plunged her spoon into the juicy red watermelon that she cut in half this morning. With the other, she held a chicken wing that was coated in hot sauce. The juice and the sauce were smeared together on her lips. "Yeah, you didn't know he was your daddy."

I glared at her. "Do you have to keep bringing it up?"

She shrugged her shoulders, biting the chicken wing. "Everyone's thinkin' it. I'm just the only one who'll say it."

Nakida pulled me closer. "Don't listen to her. Nobody is thinking about that."

Aaisha raised a sharp brow, giving her a y'all-lying look, and turned back to her food.

"Samuel's pack. Now," Valerio said urgently through the mind-link.

My heart lurched. Samuel's pack. We must've done the right thing by increasing security at his pack. If Valerio seemed this urgent, the Hunter must be there. I just hoped we could get to her before she escaped.

After ordering Nakida to make sure Aaisha didn't cover this house in dirty daddy jokes when I was gone, I closed my eyes and teleported to his pack.

When I arrived in the backyard, Valerio was running from the woods to retrieve me. A deep gash laid across his face, spewing blood. The blonde fur on his back was stained red. I didn't ask what happened, instead I followed him through the woods.

A group of Protectors had surrounded the small cabin that I stayed in when Damon died. It was the same cabin I had seen in my vision, the one that was surrounded by a sea of blood. And, just by glancing at all of my wolves, that sea of blood seemed and smelt so real.

Each wolf was wounded, some worse than others. The blood from their wounds was dripping off of them and soaking into the dirt.

I pressed my lips together. "Are any Protectors in there?"

"No, she is in there with three Challengers," Valerio linked.

I stepped forward, ready to finally end this, but Valerio nipped at my ankle, holding me back. "Don't just rush in there."

For once, I stopped and carefully thought through a plan, the best damn plan I could create in less than a minute. I knelt to the ground and held out my palms, releasing Black and White. My fingers grazed against their snouts. "You know what to do."

Black turned around, his tail swinging angrily. He bared his teeth and growled at the cabin. White stood by his side, tall and content.

After quickly splitting the Protectors into three groups, one that would continue to surround the house, one that would find and protect the pup or pups being drained inside of it, and one to fight with me. I slowly approached the door.

Valerio placed his ear to the door and nodded to me. I gazed back at the others. This was it. We were going to finally end this madness.

Within three seconds, Valerio forced himself through the locked door, breaking it off its hinges. Two Challengers who stood in front of the hallway sprinted toward us, but my Protectors eliminated them immediately.

We continued down the hallway. Valerio and I knew this place from the inside out. There was a door to the basement to our left, the bathroom to our right, and the master bedroom right in front of us.

I ordered two Protectors to check the basement for pups or other Challengers while Valerio quietly opened the bathroom door. A single pup was crouched in the corner of the bathtub, silent tears streaming down his face.